The Shepherd and the Star - Part VIII
A large, aged warship ripped back into standard space in a flurry of green and yellow (a combination of modern and primeval fuels) and drifted for a few minutes as the new crew struggled to bring power back online. The lighting across her crippled shell flicked back to life independently, as her sub-engines floated back to action. The vessel started to sail forward again, as it was built to by the engineers and veterans of war called Rapture. In the centre of the large craft, a black oval room comprised of various strange metals held all of her organs in place and pulsed power through the veins of the ship. At the round desk in the centre stood the General, dressed in a new leathery combat outfit which ran from her chin to the tip of her toes, completely hiding her body from all light – synthetic or otherwise. *‘General,’ a powerful male voice called from behind her and she looked over her shoulder and over to a soldier sat beside a console with a radar on it ‘we’ve arrived.’ She took a glance towards his workstation and to the radar before she turned and stared up to two screens hanging above the desk. The radar materialised on both, and yet she remained silent. The image showed a pyramid outline scanning the outside of the ship, and still she retained her silence. It was broken by a faint beep, which occurred just as a large block flashed onto the top of the radar and stayed. *‘Alright, get ready’ she ordered ‘get ready for anything.’ There was a long pause as they all waited, sat at their posts. Nothing moved. *‘No signs,’ the soldier announced ‘there’s nothing coming from it. Just silence.’ *‘Alright, set the charges. We move forward as planned.’ She reminded them ‘It’s time for us to begin.’ Their vessel tilted to one side as her hull shifted apart and revealed a task force of small transport ships hidden within, which bounced off her internal armour and thumped up into the cold like sparks from a ignition, then twisted and turned until they were all faced the same way. As soon as this took place, they began to drift harmlessly towards a colossal and monstrous shadow that lurked dangerously ahead. --- In the cockpit of the Morning Star, Vahagnae proceeded to fold his arms as the pilot initiated the emerald engine command systems. The Commander stood with her arms neatly behind her back, and the scene reflected how the three were during the terraformation of Mars. The ship suddenly propelled itself into a bright tunnel of pure jade, and the captain finally looked at her. *‘So,’ he said ‘you’ve gone above your station. What exactly did the General say to you down on Solace, anyway? Must have been a pretty powerful epiphany, whatever it was she cast on you.’ *‘The General is a terrorist, captain. She will suffer for her crimes soon enough.’ The Commander ensured him. *‘That’s not what I meant-...’ he proceeded to question her authority, or at least what remained of it. *‘-I know, and therefore so will I when the time is right.’ She acknowledged ‘She knows we’re coming. She wanted me to come after her.’ *‘And so you’re doing it, walking blindly into enemy hands-...’ he argued. *‘-No, I’m not doing this because she told me to. I’m doing this because just recently I’ve had my doubts about where we’re all headed. Something feels wrong.’ She confessed, quite transparently and out of character. *‘My grandfather fought in the Rapture, you know? He was there, right in the centre of the battle between the masses of the living, the dead and the synthetics. He survived, and crawled right out of there, crawled through blood and guts and...All of that terrifying stuff you hear, and you know what he told me?’ he revealed ‘He told me that he would do it all again, the fighting, the losing and the running. He’d do it all again just to see the sun shining on the other side of the field, to feel the pleasure he felt then at their moment of crucial victory. He, and a billion others, they made this world. Their sacrifice made-...’ *‘-Don’t. If they made this world then they helped to make me, the Agency, the corruption of the UA, all of that terrifying stuff you can’t stand.’ She fought back ‘The Rapture wars started all of this.’ *‘So what do you intend to do, Commander? Once you’ve boarded that ship and killed the General, I mean, what then? Will you use it as she would have done? Would you fly it back to Earth and demand changes, using violence as a means to get it?’ he asked. *‘No, because I’m not the General. It’s not my job to do so.’ She answered minimally ‘And it’s not her place to decide that, either. She’s taking things into her own hands.’ *‘Isn’t that what you’re doing? Taking things into your own hands? You committed an act of mutiny against a superior officer of your Agency. How do you think the agents will react when they find out?’ he said and folded his arms ‘We both know how they’ll react, don’t we?’ *‘Are you going to tell them?’ she asked and folded her own arms, mimicking his posture. *‘Of course not, if it means a damn thing – I admire your balls, Commander,’ he declared quietly ‘But, and of course speaking metaphorically, when the Agency becomes aware of this and I’m certain that they will, then you’ll get the snip.’ *‘Colourful.’ She replied and dropped her head slightly to one side, then tilted it the other way to emphasise her reproving response. The captain finally looked away and stared at the glowing funnel outside, which was pulling the Morning Star to her destination very quickly. *‘I’d bet anything that the ‘Star can outrun that old freighter you described, but judging by the time. I’d say that they were already there.’ He moved on. *‘You’re changing the subject, captain. You can’t condemn and praise my actions simultaneously, and then ignore yourself and condemn and praise something else.’ She added. *‘Yes, I can. I’m human, but more than that I’m old. If you pursue your new rebellious ways then who knows, someday you might know I feel, but I doubt it. I don’t have machines in my brain, controlling my thoughts.’ He gave her a sharp glance. *‘They’re not in control, not anymore. I’m in control of them.’ She reassured him. *‘I think they are a lot more subtle than you give them credit for. The Agency imbedded their finest technology into their soldiers. There has to be a failsafe if something goes wrong-...’ he started. *‘-This isn’t wrong, and if there were it would have gone off by now.’ She disputed his claims. *‘Or maybe, Commander, the Agency simply hasn’t flicked the switch yet. Maybe they’re waiting for you to bring the General in, or they’re waiting for you to board that alien spacecraft and they can take out the both of you in one, electronic, throw of a stone.’ he disputed right back ‘It’s just a possibility. That guy, one of your bosses, the nameless stowaway being seen to in my sickbay, he’s been downstairs for a while now. Do you really think he hasn’t contacted the Agency about your moves up here?’ *‘Have you picked up anything on the comm.?’ She asked, suddenly yet subtly troubled. *‘Commander, the Agency is smarter than that. Just watch your back. If they get the opportunity, I think they’ll use it as best they can. I don’t think you’re safe.’ He warned her. *‘Sirs? We’re getting nearer.’ The pilot’s voice suddenly pelted their eardrums. *‘I know, but it’s not about me. The world should know about the Agency, it’s the UA’s biggest, darkest secret. The General was right. The Rapture didn’t solve a thing.’ She cited. *‘I thought that you were frightened that chaos would swarm across the colonies?’ he brought up again. *‘There’s no doubt, but maybe this time something will come of it. There’s no doubt, captain, people will die, and then the survivors will see just how manipulated the world has been since the Rapture cracked Earth.’ in Part XI